A QUICK-WITTED teenager was today hailed a hero as he fought flames that threatened his family's luxury home.Jack Adams, 16, fought his way past fire to the garage of the family's Kesgrave home to seize a powder extinguisher while flames from a ceiling fire licked the upstairs hallway.

A QUICK-WITTED teenager was today hailed a hero as he fought flames that threatened his family's luxury home.

Jack Adams, 16, fought his way past fire to the garage of the family's Kesgrave home to seize a powder extinguisher while flames from a ceiling fire licked the upstairs hallway.

While his father Brian and Jack beat back the blaze, his mother and sister made their way outside though the smoke filled home in Edmonton Road.

Daughter Carla, 23, phoned firefighters who arrived minutes later.

Mother Gail Adams said: "They told us that by using the powder extinguisher we gained an extra three minutes that stopped the fire being much worse. I tried to give Jack a big kiss today because he's such a hero."

Brian Adams was the first to discover the fire, thought to have started behind a recessed light fitting, at just after 5am today.

He said: "I heard some noise and got up to see flames coming through the ceiling. Jack and I tried to push them back then he went to get the powder extinguisher.

"If it hadn't been for smoke alarms fire fighters told us we could all have died.

"The house is a mess but you have to imagine what might have been. We were all very lucky."

Mr Adams feet were badly burnt by molten plastic in the blaze which caused his wife and both children to require oxygen.

He praised both crews from two appliances called from Colchester Road and Princes Street stations.

But hero of the day, Jack Adams a Kesgrave High School pupil currently waiting the results of his GCSEs, remained modest.

He said: "I don't think I'll become a firefighter."